Better Business Bureau Calls Out LG For False Advertising

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You can’t believe everything you read, nor can you trust everything you hear on TV. Especially if it sounds something like “four out of five people choose LG Cinema 3D over Sony and Samsung for overall 3D experience.”

Apparently the Better Business Bureau (more specifically the National Advertising Division) “has recommended that LG Electronics USA discontinue advertising claims made for the company’s Cinema 3D Television and 3D glasses.”

Back in June of 2011, LG sent out a press release claiming that four out of five customers prefer LG Cinema 3D television over Sony and Samsung in a number of different categories including brightness, color, picture quality, glasses, and overall 3D experience. The research was done by a company called Morpace Inc., who tested the TVs at their default settings without any branding shown.

Shortly thereafter, LG came out with an ad calling out Sony and Samsung directly, telling them to “stick to 2D”, which ran in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and The New York Times (Online).

LG has come to market focusing primarily on passive 3D technology, whereas Sony and Samsung have opted to focus more on active 3D offerings. Passive technology allows for cheaper, lighter glasses much like the ones you’d use in a movie theater, and active 3D requires battery-powered electronic glasses to view 3D content. Still, all three companies have a number of different models across a variety of sizes. The test, on the other hand, was conducted using only entry-level models from each company.

That said, the NAD asserts that LG’s “broad line claims are premised upon a single test of the parties’ entry-level model 3D televisions” and have found the consumer-perception evidence to be materially flawed. The NAD recommends that LG discontinue claims that “four out of five” consumers prefer LG’s passive 3D over Sony and Samsung.

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